A new Hyde Park restaurant offers a tour of the world via the African diaspora. Mahari (1504 E. 55th Street) offers the rice fritter known as calas from New Orleans; spiced, grilled suya skewers with mushroom instead of the typical beef from Nigeria; samosa-like sambusas from East Africa; and Caribbean ingredients like plantains and the Haitian slaw pikliz, all served alongside drinks crafted with African and Caribbean spirits and flavors.

Mahari serves dishes from “anywhere food traveled from Africa throughout the world,” says chef Rahim Muhammad. “It brings us to our focus of African, Caribbean, Latin food. They all tie into each other and have similar roots.”

Muhammad, business partner Magic Johnson, and beverage director Lisa Brown were inspired to dig into their “roots through the routes” that Africans traveled with their traditions throughout the world, often forcibly through slave labor. “We all decided to take a deep dive into some of our history and see where our people are from, and where my cooking style comes from,” says Muhammad.

Muhammad’s family is from Louisiana, but he grew up in Chicago, going to both elementary and high school with Johnson. He has carried the Creole and Southern cuisine of his roots with him through his career, cooking at the Southern restaurant Table 52 among other places and launching Stussy’s Diner in Bridgeport last year before joining Mahari. The restaurant’s salmon calas is a particularly meaningful favorite for him, given that the rice fritters were once sold by Creole women on the street in New Orleans to make some extra money. His own mother still spoke Louisiana Creole when she moved to Chicago, but was made fun of for the dialect. “For her it was a pain point, but for me, now, we’re embracing it and being motivated and empowered by where we’re from,” Muhammad says.

But he’s also continually learning about new dishes and cuisines through both his own staff – who are from Jamaica, Haiti, Mauritania, Ethiopia, and the South – as well as research and travel. A prawn and polenta dish features Jamaican curry sauce; a Caribbean lamb burger pulls together ingredients from a number of regions and is halal. Every Saturday, Mahari features a different place in its Passport Series, offering a few special dishes from Puerto Rico or Senegal or another location alongside its regular menu.

The drink menu by Brown, who’s also beverage manager at Hyde Park’s popular The Promontory, continues the theme of celebrating the diaspora. Both cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks spotlight integral flavors of the diaspora, such as Haiti’s Scotch Bonnet pepper, sorrel, Ethiopian honey wine known as tej, and plenty of spices. But they also use gins and vodkas made in Africa – rare to see in this country.

“We’re able to tell a story with the food, with the drinks, with the experience,” says Johnson, the restaurant’s director of community and culture, who notes that the name of the restaurant means “gift” in Swahili.

“You’re not just coming here to eat; we’re not just touching your stomach,” Johnson continues. “We want to touch your mind, your body, and your spirit. We want you to feel fully full and fulfilled when you leave.”